Bible and Health

The medical instructions given by Moses
to the Israelites some 3500 years ago were not only far superior to the
practices of contemporary cultures; they also exceeded medical standards
practiced as recently as 100 years ago. Following are some examples of the
medical knowledge afforded the Israelites in biblical times:

Sanitary Practices
For centuries doctors denied the possibility that disease could be transmitted
by invisible agents. However, in the late 19th century Louis Pasteur
demonstrated in his Germ Theory of Disease that most infectious diseases were
caused by microorganisms originating from outside the body. This new
understanding of germs and their means of transmission led to improved sanitary
standards that resulted in an enormous drop in the mortality rate. Yet these
core principles of sanitation were being practiced by the Israelites thousands
of years earlier.
The Israelites were instructed to wash themselves and their clothes in running
water if they had a bodily discharge, if they came in contact with another
person's discharge, or if they had touched a dead human or animal carcass. They
were also instructed to wash any uncovered vessels that were in the vicinity of
a dead body, and if a dead carcass touched a vessel it was to be destroyed.
Items recovered during war were also to be purified through either fire or
running water. In addition, the Israelites were instructed to bury their human
waste outside of camp, and to burn the waste of their animals (SeeNumbers
19:3-22, Lev. 11:1-47; 15:1-33, Deut
23:12).
These sanitary practices without question saved countless lives in the
Israelite camps by protecting them against infection caused by unseen germs.
Meanwhile, their Egyptian peers were dying by the thousands due to
"remedies" that almost always consisted of some amount of human or
animal dung1. As mentioned earlier, the sound sanitary
practices that we take for granted today only began to flourish about a 100
years ago.

Bacteria
Leprosy is a bacteria, a living organism, that certainly can survive on walls
and garments! In fact, the Medic-Planet.com encyclopedia notes that leprosy
"can survive three weeks or longer outside the human body, such as in dust
or on clothing". It is no wonder that God commanded the Levitical priests
to burn the garments of leprosy victims! (Leviticus
13:52)

Laws of Quarantine
In the same Med-Planet encyclopaedia cited above we read that "It was not
until 1873 that leprosy could be shown to be infectious rather than
hereditary." Of course God knew this all along, as His laws to Moses
reveal (Leviticus 13, 14, 22, Numbers
19:20). His instructions regarding quarantine to prevent the
spread of leprosy and other infectious diseases are nothing short of
remarkable, considering that this life-saving practice was several thousand
years ahead of its time. Infected persons were instructed to isolate themselves
outside the camp until healed, and were to shave and wash thoroughly. The
priests that administered care were instructed to change their clothes and wash
thoroughly after inspecting a plague victim.
It should be re-emphasized that the Israelites were the only culture to
practice quarantine until the last century, when medical advances finally
demonstrated the importance of sanitation and isolation during plagues. The
devastating black plague of the 14th century that claimed millions of lives was
not broken until the church fathers in Vienna began encouraging the public to
start following the guidelines as set forth in the Bible. The promising results
in Vienna compelled other cities to follow suit, and the dreaded plague was
finally eradicated.

The First Antiseptic
Hyssop oil was charged by God to Moses to be used as a purifying agent. Hyssop
oil has been shown to contain 50% antifungal and antibacterial agents (Numbers
19:18, Psalm 51:7).

Circumcision and Blood Clotting
For centuries scholars must have been perplexed by God's law of circumcision
which required the procedure to be performed on the 8th day after birth (Gen 17:12, 21:14, Lev
12:3, Luke 2:21). Medical researchers recently
discovered that the two main blood clotting factors, Vitamin K and Prothrombim,
reach their highest level in life, about 110% of normal, on the 8th day after
birth. These blood clotting agents facilitate rapid healing and greatly reduce
the chance of infection. You can verify with any Obstetrician that the 8th day
of life is the ideal time for a circumcision, and that any circumcision done
earlier requires an injection of Vitamin K supplement.

Dietary Guidelines
By the 1980s, all the health organizations of the United States had adopted
low-fat, high fiber dietary guidelines. This was the culmination of numerous
scientific studies that had demonstrated that diets high in vegetables, fruits,
and grains reduced the risk of heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases.
The Biblical diet was primarily a vegetarian diet of vegetables, fruits, nuts,
and grains. It wasn't until after Noah's Flood that God reluctantly allowed
moderate consumption of meat (ingestion of fat remained strictly forbidden),
though He still clearly indicated the superiority of vegetables over meat (seeDaniel
1:12-15). For a detailed discussion, see Dr. Jerry Bergman's
report in the Creation Research Society Quarterly, Vol 34, No. 4,
March 1998, pg 209.
Encyclopaedia Britannica documents that in 1845, a young doctor in Vienna named
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was horrified at the terrible death rate of women who gave
birth in hospitals. As many as 30 percent died after giving birth. Semmelweis
noted that doctors would examine the bodies of patients who died, then, without
washing their hands, go straight to the next ward and examine expectant
mothers. This was their normal practice, because the presence of microscopic
diseases was unknown. Semmelweis insisted that doctors wash their hands before
examinations, and the death rate immediately dropped to 2 percent. Look at the
specific instructions God gave His people for when they encounter disease:
'When a man is cleansed from his discharge, he is to count off seven days for
his ceremonial cleansing; he must wash his clothes and bathe himself with fresh
water, and he will be clean.' (Leviticus
15:13). Until recent years, doctors washed their hands in a bowl of
water, leaving invisible germs on their hands. However, the Bible says
specifically to wash hands under "running water."